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Shii Islam

Shii Muslims, the followers or party of
Ali
, believe that
Muhammad
's religious leadership, spiritual authority, and divine
guidance were passed on to his descendants, beginning with his
son-in-law and cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, his daughter,
Fatimah
, and their sons,
Hasan
and
Husayn
. The defining event of Shiism was the martyrdom of Husayn, his male family
members, and many companions at Karbala (Iraq) in
681
by the Umayyads, granting an element of passion and pathos to
Shiism.

There are three main branches of Shiis today: the Zaydis, the
Ismailis (Seveners), and the Ithna Asharis (Twelvers or Imamis). The Zaydis
(followers of
Zayd ibn Ali
ibn al-Husayn
) are located in Yemen, Iraq, and parts of Africa. They represent the
activist groups who believe that the imam ought to fight for his rights and be a
ruler of state. The Ismailis (Seveners) are named after the seventh imam,
Ismail
. They founded the Fatimid Empire (
909
–
1171
) and represent esoteric Shiism. The Ithna Asharis (Twelvers or Imamis)
are the largest and most moderate group. They believe in twelve imams, beginning
with Ali and ending with
Muhammad
al-Mahdi
, who went into occultation and is expected to return at the end of time as
the messianic imam who will restore justice and equity on earth. He is therefore
referred to as the imam al-muntazar, the expected or awaited
imam.

Historically, the Shiis enjoyed the most favorable conditions under
Buwayhid rule (
945
–
1055
) in Baghdad and Iran. During this period, major collections of Shii
hadith were compiled and Shii legal thought was formulated. Two popular Shii
commemorations were instituted in Baghdad at this time: the remembrance of the
martyrdom of Husayn on the tenth day of Muharram and the festival of Ghadir
al-Khumm, commemorating the Prophet's nomination of Ali as
his successor, on the eighteenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah. It was also at
this time that public mourning ceremonies for Husayn were initiated, shrines
were built for the imams, and the custom of pilgrimage to these shrines was
established at the popular level. Scholars of the Mongol, Safavid, and Qajar
periods also made major contributions to Shii literature, philosophy, theology,
and law.

Shii political thought entered its modern phase during the
Iranian Constitutional Revolution of
1905
–
11
, when Shiis were divided between the forces of constitutionalism,
modernism, reason, and secularism, on one hand, and more traditional
interpretations of faith, religious law, and the role of clerics, on the other.
The clerical establishment ultimately joined with secular revolutionaries in
opposing European colonialism. By the 1940s and 1950s Shii political thought was
addressing issues such as Communism and nationalism, often presenting Shiism as
an alternative. During the 1960s the institutional bases for the propagation of
modern Shii political thought were formed through Quranic schools and voluntary
associations of Muslim university students and professionals. Informal
gatherings led by clerics and intellectuals also promoted Shii political
mobilization. The most important event of the 1960s was the
1963
uprising led by
Ayatollah
Ruhollah
Khomeini
(d.
1989
), who called for the ouster of the shah.

The most effective
ideologue of modern Shiism was
Ali
Shariati
(d.
1977
). In the late 1960s and 1970s Shariati combined Islam with Third
Worldism and revolution into an activist political ideology. He identified
Western imperialism, cultural colonialism, social injustice, and political
repression as the greatest contemporary challenges. In contrast to the passive,
suffering role typically assumed by Shiis, Shariati cast Shiism as activist,
radical, revolutionary, classless, and opposed to tyranny and repression.
Shariati inspired the Iranian clerics
Ayatollah
Khomeini
, who emerged at the head of the Iranian Islamic revolution, and
Imam
Musa
al-Sadr
(d.
1978
), who encouraged the Shiis of Lebanon to take an activist role in
struggling for better socioeconomic conditions and political
representation.

Khomeini was the most rhetorically successful
revolutionary Shii. Opposed to the increasing secularization of Pahlavi society
and American domination of Iranian political, social, economic, and cultural
life, Khomeini introduced the principle of vilayat-i faqih
as the foundation for Islamic government. According to this principle, in the
absence of an imam, the leadership of Muslim nations is to be entrusted to Shii
jurists, who are to rule by virtue of their knowledge of sacred law and their
ability to regulate the daily affairs of Muslims. The resultant Islamic
revolution of
1979
and constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran represent the
ideological institutionalization of modern Shii political ideas. In the
postrevolutionary period, such reformist thinkers as
Abd al-Karim
Soroush
have tried to move ideological debates beyond factionalism toward serious
engagement of the consequences of the success of the Islamic revolution.